This weeks thought for the day on Premier looks at the witness of the Church –
This thought came from chapter nine of Magnificent Obsession
Here are some of the quotes from that chapter:
“To say that men and women should not inject their ‘personal morality’ into public policy debates is a practical absurdity; our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition”. Barack Obama – The Audacity of Hope – p.218.
The heretics themselves also, since they are thought to have the Christian name and sacraments, Scriptures, and profession, cause great grief in the hearts of the pious, both because many who wish to be Christians are compelled by their dissensions to hesitate, and many evil-speakers also find in them matter for blaspheming the Christian name, because they too are at any rate called Christians” (City of God, Book XVIII ch.51)
“It was never that difficult to see that religion was a cause of hatred and conflict, and that its maintenance depended upon ignorance and superstition” “Religion teaches people to be extremely self-centred and conceited” p.74 (Christopher Hitchens)
. “Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.” (The Times). Matthew Parris
“It all feels a long way from God……it feels sad, exhausted, defeated; this may have been God’s house once, you want to tell the handful of people here, but He’s clearly moved, shut up shop, gone to a place where there’s more of a demand for that sort of thing.” (Nick Hornby – How to Be Good p.187).
, “Enmity with God is the source of all that poisons man; overcoming this enmity is the basic condition for peace in the world. Only the man who is reconciled with God can also be reconciled and in harmony with himself, and only the man who is reconciled with God and with himself can establish peace around him and throughout the world.” Pope Benedict p. 85)
The World Turned Upside Down – Premier Thought for the Day 8